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Tag Archives: Fighter

Two big blockbuster releases are opening on big-screens nationwide today. The first is the new biographical drama by director Oliver Stone (Platoon, Any Given Sunday) called Snowden, obviously about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises) stars in the role as Snowden, with Shailene Woodley (Divergent, The Descendants), Melissa Leo (The Fighter, Prisoners), Zachary Quinto (Margin Call, Star Trek Beyond), and Tom Wilkinson (The Patriot, Michael Clayton) appearing in the supporting cast. The film was adapted by Stone from two books: The Snowden Files: The Inside Story of the World’s Most Wanted Man by Luke Harding and Time of the Octopus by Anatoly Kucherena. Stone has a habit of putting his own theory in his historical films, but he is definitely a worthy director, and Levitt a solid actor, so this one will probably be worth your time, especially if the rain persists! Continue reading →

The new live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book is opening in theaters nationwide this Friday, April 15th. The movie had already brought in $30 million in foreign box office sales last weekend, which has already prompted Disney to green-light a sequel with director John Favreau (Iron Man 2, Chef). Screenwriter Justin Marks (Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, Rewind) adapted the script from author Rudyard Kipling’s novel about the man-cub Mowgli, who, after a threat by the tiger Shere Kahn, must embark on an epic journey across the jungle, led by the panther Bagheera and the bear Baloo, on a journey of self-discovery. The film features an all star cast, including Bill Murray (Ghostbusters, Stripes) as Baloo, Ben Kingsley (Shutter Island, Self/Less) as Bagheera, and Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation, Thor: The Dark World) as Shere Kahn, along with Scarlett Johansonn (The Avengers, Captain America: Civil War), Lupita Lyong’o (12 Years A Slave, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Giancarlo Esposito (The Usual Suspects, Smoke), Christopher Walken (Pulp Fiction, Catch Me If You Can), and up-and-coming youngster Neel Sethi as Mowgli. Those of us who grew up watching the original animated feature from Disney will be really excited to see this one on big screens, so be sure to see it while it’s still in theaters. Enjoy!

William Monahan (The Departed, Body of Lies) is taking his second jab at directing his own script with a new thriller called Mojave. Starring Oscar Isaac (Inside Llewyn Davis, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Garret Hedlund (Four Brothers, Tron: Legacy), the film follows a rich, suicidal artist as he ventures into the Mojave Desert, only to encounter his doppelganger: a homicidal drifter. Appearing in the supporting cast are actors Walton Goggins (Shield, Sons of Anarchy), Mark Wahlberg (The Fighter, Lone Survivor), Dania Ramirez (X-Men: The Last Stand, American Reunion), and Matt Jones (Breaking Bad, Red State). Monahan’s last writing/directing project was a film called London Boulevard in 2010, but since The Departed opened in theaters in 2004 the writer has really failed to attain a solid following in terms of highly popular projects, like Edge of Darkness (2010) and the remake of The Gambler in 2014. The trailer does look pretty wild, though, making the film read more like a modern Western thriller with a plot of cat and mouse cowboys. Hopefully it will be enough to get Monahan back on the Oscar-worthy list, but we’ll see. The trailer is here on MADE. Enjoy!

From left to right: actors Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, and Ryan Gosling will co-star in The Big Short.

Writer/director Adam McKay just released news that his upcoming project, The Big Short, has been given a release date for Christmas Day 2015. The release is expected to be held at the conclusion of the Los Angeles AFI Film Festival, but I’m pretty sure a nationwide release will be happening later on in 2016. The film is based on Michael Lewis’ novel of the same name, which focuses on a group of guys who made millions when they bet against the collateralized debt obligation bubble after predicting the economic crash of 2008. Making up the all-star cast are actors Brad Pitt (Inglorious Basterds, Fury), Christian Bale (The Dark Knight, Out of the Furnace), Karen Gillan (Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy), Ryan Gosling (Drive, The Place Beyond the Pines), Steve Carell (The 40-Year Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine), Marisa Tomei (My Cousin Vinny, The Lincoln Lawyer), and Melissa Leo (The Fighter, Prisoners). Selena Gomez will also be appearing in the movie as one of the supporting characters. Director McKay co-wrote the script with screenwriter Charles Randolph (The Life of David Gale, The Interpreter). We’ll keep an eye out for a new trailer, which should be coming soon.

Here we have a new teaser trailer for the upcoming Oliver Stone (The Doors, Born on the Fourth of July) biopic on NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The film is appropriately (and simply) titled Snowden and stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises) in the title role. While production has been underway for on the project for sometime, one would expect to see at least a 10-second clip of actual footage, but with this teaser all you really get are some words outlining highlights of Snowden’s life and a clever phrase to top-off the 86-second clip (even though “One Nation, Under Surveillance” is pretty clever considering the subject matter). Also starring in the film are actors Shailene Woodley (The Fault in Our Stars, Divergent), Melissa Leo (The Fighter, Prisoners), Zachary Quinto (24, Star Trek: Into Darkness), Tom Wilkinson (The Patriot, Rush Hour), Rhys Ifans (Anonymous, The Amazing Spider Man), and Nicholas Cage (Con-Air, National Treasure). The movie is scheduled to open in theaters on Christmas Day, right alongside Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. We’ll keep an eye out for additional trailers as they come out. Stay tuned!

Even though fans still have the rest of 2015’s impressive release schedule to appease their appetites, this weekend saw a new teaser-trailer for next year’s highly anticipated Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Directed by Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) and starring Henry Cavill (Immortals, Man of Steel) as Superman and Oscar-winner Ben Affleck (Argo, Gone Girl) as Batman, the film will act as both a follow-up to 2013’s Man of Steel and a pre-cursor for DC Comic’s upcoming Justice League movie(s), due out in 2017 and 2019. Screenwriters David S. Goyer (The Dark Knight Rises, Man of Steel) and Chris Terrio (Heights, Argo) penned the script for the film, which will also feature Amy Adams (The Fighter, American Hustle) as Lois Lane, Gal Gadot (Knight and Day, Fast & Furious 6) as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa (Conan the Barbarian, Bullet in the Head) as Aquaman, Jessie Eisenberg (The Social Network, Now You See Me) as Lex Luther, Jeremy Irons (The Lion King, Die Hard With A Vengeance) as Alfred, and Diane Lane (The Perfect Storm, Unfaithful) as Martha Kent. The trailer includes a glimpse of Affleck’s Batman suit but doesn’t give any solid hints as to why Batman ends up facing off with Superman (although fans of the comics will probably have more knowledge about that!). Enjoy!

Director Sam Raimi, who directed James Franco last year in Oz: The Great and Powerful, is currently involved in several different projects, including a video game adaptation of The Last of Us, and a reboot of The Grudge (which we all wish he wouldn’t do), but he may also be helming a new drama from writers Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson. The project is called The Outpost and is based on Jack Tapper’s non-fiction novel The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor, which follows a group of 53 U.S. troops at a base in Eastern Afghanistan that was ambushed by more than 400 Taliban members. The small battle lasted an entire day and resulted in two of the U.S. troops receiving Medals of Honor, the first time since the Vietnam era that two soldiers from the same battle received the honor. Now Raimi is looking to produce a feature film about the incident and possibly direct it as well. Tamasy and Johnson received critical acclaim for The Fighter in 2010 with Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale, but this new project is still in very early pre-production and no word on who would be leading the cast has been released. We’ll keep an eye out for more news.

Last week Chicago Spitter Show You Suck released this dope track paying homage to the classic video game Street Fighter. Entitled “Super Street Fighter 4” the track is littered with references to various characters, namely Ryu who Show says is his favorite player. Show will be performing live this Sunday at the Milwaukee Avenue Art Festival so make sure to get down there and support dope Chicago Hip Hop. Check out the track below: